1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording medium such as a DVD, on which a large amount of information such as images, sound, etc. can be recorded densely, and a reproducing apparatus to reproduce the information recorded on the information recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An LD (Laser Disk), a CD (Compact Disk), etc. are popular as an optical disc to record information such as images, sound, etc. thereon.
On such an LD or CD etc, image information and audio information are recorded together with time information, which represents a time to reproduce each of the image information and audio information on the basis of the reproduction starting point. Therefore, in the case of CD, it is possible not only to reproduce the audio information in order of the recording arrangement but also to reproduce only some pieces of audio information that the user wants to listen. Furthermore, it is possible to reproduce audio information in random order.
However, the user have no choice with respect to contents of images to be displayed or contents of sound to be reproduce. For example, when watching pictures or movies, the user cannot choose the subtitles. When listening music, the user cannot choose the sound, voice or language (e.g. lyrics). This is a disadvantage of the conventional optical disc, LD or CD. That is, the LD or CD does not has the capability of interactive selection or the capability that many choices are given to the user.
On the other hand, a DVD, which is a kind of optical disk, has been proposed and now actively developed. The DVD has the same size as that of the CD, and has a recording capacity that is about ten times as large as that of the CD. If such a DVD is used, a number of subtitles and a number of lyrics can be recorded on it, and it makes possible to allow the user to choose the subtitles or lyrics. That is, according to the DVD, it is possible to achieve the interactive selection and to give many choices to the user.
If audio information such as music etc. is recorded on the DVD, the audio information whose amount is as large as the total amount of audio information recorded on several CDs can be recorded on it, since the DVD has a large amount of recording capacity. Hereinafter, a DVD on which audio information is mostly recorded is referred to as an xe2x80x9caudio DVDxe2x80x9d.
For example, if an audio DVD is produced with respect to one musician, all of the songs included in several CD albums produced by this musician can be recorded on this one audio DVD. Furthermore, it is possible to select several songs from these CD albums on the basis of a certain theme and add them as a song collection album onto the same audio DVD.
More concretely, if an audio DVD is produced with respect to the Beatles, all of the songs included in several CD albums produced by the Beatles can be recorded on this one audio DVD. Furthermore, it is possible to select several songs that the lead vocal is John Lennon from these CD albums and add them as xe2x80x9cJohn Lennon Vocal Collection Albumxe2x80x9d onto the same audio DVD.
In this case, the same song is recorded doubly on one audio DVD. For example, the song, xe2x80x9cLet It Bexe2x80x9d, is recorded as a song included in the album whose title is xe2x80x9cLet It Bexe2x80x9d, and this song is further recorded as a song included in the xe2x80x9cJohn Lennon Vocal Collection Albumxe2x80x9d.
It is useless to record the same song more than one time. That is, recording the audio information having same contents onto one DVD is in vain.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an information recording medium which can use its recording capacity efficiently by preventing to record audio information having the same content more than one time, and which can provide the user with the aforementioned interactive selection and many choices.
The above mentioned object can be achieved by an information recording medium in accordance with the present invention. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information which are independent of each other; and a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. The plurality of reproducing control information includes double reproducing control information. The double reproducing control information is assigned to one of the plurality of audio information to which different one of the plurality of reproducing control information has been assigned.
Thus, the double reproducing control information and another reproducing control information are doubly assigned to one audio information. If this audio information is reproduced according to the double reproducing control information and the reproducing control information, this audio information is doubly reproduced. Therefore, it is not needed to doubly record the same audio information on one information recording medium, and it is possible to record the audio information efficiently.
In the information recording medium may include a first information group having a set of the reproducing control information except the double reproducing control information, and a second information group having a set of the reproducing control information including the double reproducing control information. According to the information recording medium of the present invention, these information groups can be defined efficiently.
In the aforementioned information recording medium, the information recording medium may further have centralized reproducing control information which includes all of the plurality of reproducing control information. Therefore, all of the reproducing control information can be obtained by referring to the centralized reproducing control information, so that it is possible to make the reproducing process simple. As a result, the reproducing process can be carried out rapidly.
In the aforementioned information recording medium, each of the plurality of reproducing control information includes address information which indicates a recording position of one of the plurality of audio information. The double reproducing control information and the reproducing control information except the double reproducing control information include the same address information as each other. Therefore, by referring the address information of the audio information corresponding to each reproducing control information, the reproducing control information assigned to the doubled audio information can be found easily.
In the aforementioned information recording medium, the centralized reproducing control information may include double assignment information which indicates whether or not the reproducing control information is the double reproducing control information. Therefore, it is possible to easily determined whether or not the reproducing control information is the double reproducing control information by referring to the double assignment information.
In the aforementioned information recording medium, the centralized reproducing control information may include attribute information, and the attribute information may include at least information which indicates a recording position of one of said plurality of audio information, a sampling frequency and the number of bit of quantization with respect to each of the plurality of audio information. Therefore, the attributes of the audio information corresponding to all the reproducing control information can be easily obtained by referring to the attribute information included in the centralized reproducing control information.
In the aforementioned information recording medium, the centralized reproducing control information may be recorded in a lead in area of the information recording medium. The lead in area is firstly read-out by the reproducing apparatus. Therefore, the centralized reproducing control information can be rapidly obtained, and thereafter, the reproducing process can be rapidly and efficiently carried out.
The above mentioned object can be also achieved by a first reproducing apparatus in accordance with the present invention. The first reproducing apparatus is an apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information which are independent of each other; a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information; and centralized reproducing control information which includes all of the plurality of reproducing control information. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. The plurality of reproducing control information includes double reproducing control information, which is assigned to one of the plurality of audio information to which different one of the plurality of reproducing control information has been assigned. The centralized reproducing control information includes double assignment information which indicates whether or not the reproducing control information is the double reproducing control information. The first reproducing apparatus has: a reading device for reading information including the plurality of audio information, the plurality of reproducing control information and the centralized reproducing control information from the information recording medium; an input device for inputting an instruction to select either of a normal reproduction and a non-double reproduction; and a reproducing device for referring the centralized reproducing control information read by the read device, and reproducing the plurality of audio information. The reproducing device, if the normal reproduction is selected, reproduces the plurality of audio information according to all of the plurality of reproducing control information, and the reproducing device, if the non-double reproduction is selected, refers the double assignment information and reproduces the plurality of audio information according to the plurality of reproducing control information except the double reproducing control information.
In this first reproducing apparatus, when an instruction to indicate either normal reproduction or non-double reproduction is input by the user, the first reproducing apparatus refers the centralized reproducing control information, and reproduces the audio information. If the normal reproduction is indicated, the first reproducing apparatus reproduces the audio information according to all the reproducing control information included in the centralized reproducing control information. On the other hand, if the non-double reproduction is indicated, the first reproducing apparatus refers the double assignment information, and reproduces the audio information according to the reproducing control information except the double reproducing control information. Thus, the audio information can be reproduced by the appropriate reproducing process (i.e., reproduction mode), depending on the user""s selection.
The above mentioned object can be also achieved by a second reproducing apparatus of the present invention. The second reproducing apparatus is an apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information which are independent of each other; a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information; and centralized reproducing control information which includes all of the plurality of reproducing control information. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. The plurality of reproducing control information includes double reproducing control information, which is assigned to one of the plurality of audio information to which different one of the plurality of reproducing control information has been assigned. The centralized reproducing control information includes address information which indicates a recording position of one of the plurality of audio information. The second reproducing apparatus has: a reading device for reading information including the plurality of audio information, the plurality of reproducing control information and the centralized reproducing control information from the information recording medium; an input device for inputting an instruction to select either of a normal reproduction and a non-double reproduction; a reproducing device for referring the centralized reproducing control information read by the read device, and reproducing the plurality of audio information; and a storage device for storing the address information of the audio information that has been previously reproduced by the reproducing device. The reproducing device, if the normal reproduction is selected, reproduces the plurality of audio information according to all of the plurality of reproducing control information, and the reproducing device, if the non-double reproduction is selected, refers the address information in the storage device and reproduces the plurality of audio information according to the reproducing control information assigned to the audio information whose address information has not been stored in the storage device.
In this second reproducing apparatus, when an instruction to indicate either normal reproduction or non-double reproduction is input by the user, the second reproducing apparatus refers the centralized reproducing control information, and reproduces the audio information. If the normal reproduction is indicated, the second reproducing apparatus reproduces the audio information according to all the reproducing control information included in the centralized reproducing control information. On the other hand, if the non-double reproduction is indicated, the second reproducing apparatus refers the audio information in the storage device, and determines whether or not the address information of the audio information corresponding to the reproducing control information has not been stored in the storage device. Then, the second reproducing apparatus reproduces the audio information according to the reproducing control information assigned to the audio information whose address information has not been stored in the storage device. Thus, the audio information can be reproduced by the appropriate reproducing process (i.e., reproduction mode), depending on the user""s selection.
In the aforementioned first or second reproducing apparatus, the centralized reproducing control information includes a first total reproduction time in a case of the normal reproduction and a second total reproduction time in a case of the non-double reproduction. The first or second reproducing apparatus further has a displaying device for displaying either of the first total reproduction time and the second total reproduction time. Therefore, the total reproduction time can be displayed before the reproduction is actually carried out.
The above mentioned object can be also achieved by another information recording medium in accordance with the present invention. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information each corresponding to any one of a plurality of song to be reproduced independently; a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information; and a title group information for defining a plurality of title groups each of which is a set of the plurality of songs. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. the same song is doubly included in more than one of the plurality of title groups.
In this information recording medium, the title group is defined in such a way that the same song is doubly included in more than one title group, and only one audio information corresponding to this song is recorded on the information recording medium. Therefore, it is not needed to record the same audio information doubly, and various relations between the title group and songs can be produced.
The above mentioned object can be also achieved by a third reproducing apparatus. The third reproducing apparatus is an apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information each corresponding to any one of a plurality of song to be reproduced independently; a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information; and a title group information for defining a plurality of title groups each of which is a set of the plurality of songs. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. The same song is doubly included in more than one of the plurality of title groups. The third reproducing apparatus has: a reading device for reading information including the plurality of audio information, the plurality of reproducing control information and title group information; and a reproducing device for referring to the title group information, and reproducing all of the plurality of songs included in each of the plurality of title group according to the reproducing control information.
According to the third reproducing apparatus, all of the songs included in each title group can be reproduced according to the definition of each title group.
The above mentioned object can be also achieved by a fourth reproducing apparatus. The fourth reproducing apparatus is an apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium. The information recording medium has: a plurality of audio information each corresponding to any one of a plurality of song to be reproduced independently; a plurality of reproducing control information to be used for reproducing the plurality of audio information; and a title group information for defining a plurality of title groups each of which is a set of the plurality of songs. Each of the plurality of reproducing control information is assigned to any one of the plurality of audio information. The same song is doubly included in more than one of the plurality of title groups. The forrth reproducing apparatus has: a reading device for reading information including the plurality of audio information, the plurality of reproducing control information and title group information; an identifying device for referring to the title group information, and for identifying the song that is doubly included in more than one of the plurality of title groups; and a reproducing device for reproducing the audio information corresponding to each of the plurality of songs according to the reproducing control information. The reproducing device reproduces the audio information except audio information that has been previously reproduced.
According to the fourth reproducing apparatus, when the songs included in the different title groups are reproduced, it is prevented that the same song is reproduced repeatedly.
The nature, utility, and further feature of this invention will be more clearly apparent from the following detailed description with respect to preferred embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings briefly described below.